Safety landing device



July 15 1930. s. MAIER 1,770,528

SAFETY LANDING DEVICE Filed May 14. F328 awuemtoz 5125121857 Maia:-

Patented July 15, 1930 UNITED STATES? STANLEY IAIEB, -01 DETROIT,IICHIGAN sua'rr tannins" nnvrcn Application fled Kay 14;

The present invention pertains to a novel safety landing device foraircraft of the type requiring a run at the time of take oil or1nlanding. The landing device is designed to increase the smoothness ofperformance in landing and to lessen the hazard.

The object of the device is to prevent'the nose of the craft fromsuddenly diving towards the ground while the wheels are in contact withthe ground. The device is constructed with a pilot wheel positioned at apoint nearer to thenose of the craft than the usual landing gear andwhich prevents the 7 plane from nose diving when the wheels suddenly imact with the ground in landing.

A furt er object of this pilot wheel which does not ordinarily come incontact with the ground is to prevent the nose of the craft from divingwhen. the ground wheels meet 2 with an irregularity in the ground at thetake off. v

A still further object is to construct a safety landing in a resilientmanner. The resiliency of the device absorbs the shock ground whenlanding and the shock of the wheels meeting with some irregularity uponthe ground while taxying- The manner in which I attain these objects isfully disclosed by way of examplein the following description w'threference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a sideelevation of an airplane having the safety landing device attachedthereto;

Fig. 2 is a partial front elevation; and Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail,partly in section of the safety landing device.

The numeral 1 indicates the fuselage of an airplane having brackets 2,.3 and 4 attached to the bottom in the position as indicated by thedrawings whereinthe brackets 2 and 3 are opposite each other at theoutward'edges of the bottom. The bracket 4 is positioned at a pointcentral ofsthese edges and at a point nearer the frontof the plane. Theupward 1 curve of the fuselage towards the nose places the bracket 4 ata more remote distance from the ground than the bracket-s 2 and 3, theobdevice which will lessen the hazard in landing and take off and whichis constructed of impact with thev struction increases the 'tinguishedfrom me. Serial in; 271,530.

ject of whichwill become a parent as the description proceeds. Therackets 2 and 3 each support a fixed arm 5 towhich is pivoted asupplemental arm 6 which is provided with a stud for supporting theground wheel 65 7. The bracket 4 sn ports a similar arm 8 having asupplements arm 9 which is forked at 10 to receive the ground wheel 11.

Pivotally attached to each of the arms 5 and 8 and extending towards thewheels 7 and 11 is a tube 12 which retains a spring 13 inch- Eagementwith a plunger 14, received in a caring 15 in the tu e 12 and having thelower end of the plunger attached to the wheel supports on the arms 6and 9. The plunger has ports 16 to prevent accumulation of air pressureon either side thereof. Therrelation of the brackets 2, 3 and 4 in theirnormal position'towards the] ground is such that the wheels 7 areadapted to support the lane wlliilze the wheel 11 is merely employe as ap1 o v The plane in landing is at such an angle that the pilot wheel 11contacts with the ground prior to the contact of the wheels 7. hismanner of contact raises the nose of the plane immediately there iscontact with the ound and-prevents the nose of the plane rom diving. v AThe plunger 14 acting against the spring 13 allows the wheels to reboundand thereby cushions the shock of the contact with the ground. It willbe apparent that this consmoothness of performance in taking off and inlanding and materially decreases the hazard of such an undertaklng. t

It will be noted that, due to the triangular structure of the landingwheels and 'shock absorber, the device is capable of absorbing shocksthat mayt be imparted to it in a line at an angle to t e rod 14. This isto be disthe type of spring plunger consisting merely porting the wheeland ii id in all directions except a line parallel to t c axis of thespring lunger. Such a device will absorb shocks in a substantiallyvertical direction, but is ineffective and inoperative if the wheelshould strik an ohsti-iwtion such as a log or 1 of a telescopic dev1cesupa rut on the und or even some object in the air while ying.

Although a specific embodiment of my invention has been disclosed itwill be understood that such variations in the details of constructionmay be made as fall within the sec of theappended claims.

t I claim is 1. A safety landing device for airplanes comprising wheelstrlangularly disposed in relation to each other, fixed arms attached tothe airplane, supplemental arms pivoted to said fixed arms and supportinsaid wheels, a tube connected to each of sai fixed arms, a plungerslidable in each tube and attached to said pivoted arms in closeproximity to said wheels, and a spring in each tube for resistingmovement of said plunger and allowing resilient rebound of the wheels.

2. A safety landing device for airplanes comprising wheels, one of saidwheels being disposed in a central position in front of the otherwheels, fixed arms attached to the airslane, supplemental arms pivotedto said xed arms and supportin said wheels, a tube, connected to each 0said h xed arms, a plunger slidable in each tube and attached to saidpivoted arms in close roximity to said wheels, and a spring in eac tubefor resisting movement of said plun r and allowing resilient rebound ofthe w eels.

3. A safety landing device comprising a plurality of angularly extendingarmsfixed to the bottom of an airplane fuselage, supplemental armspivoted to said fixed arms and extendingtoward the rear of the air lane,tubes having one end connected to said fixed arms, a perforated plungermounted in each of said tubes, a rod connectin said plunger to the freeend of the supp emental arm, means preventing the removal of saidplunger from said tube, a spring mounted above said plunger "toresiliently resist movement of said pivoted su plemental arm, and wheelsmounted upon I: 0 free ends of said supplemental arms.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

STANLEY MAIER.

